Shadow of the Sun
by TetsuoTsubushi
Summary: [WA3] A story about Virginia. Five years ago the gang has seperated--because five years is a good time to use. Anyway, recently she has stumbled on a journal left by her mother and things just go on from there...
1. Default Chapter

She let out a sigh. "You're...the last one."

"Whatever."

"Don't act that way!" She vehemently barked. "I'm really...going to miss you."

"Why...does that matter? In time I'll just become a fading memory and you will not recall me in a few years."

"No, Jet, I won't forget you; Any of you!" She protested with emotion. "You should know that."

"You've always been too naïve and stubborn." Jet spat. "I don't...care about memories so...this will be the very last time I'll see you on purpose."

"But," Her trembling lips escaped.

"So long." He walked from the lone crying woman with a wave. His scarves flying in the warm wind.

"Yeah...so long." She silently muttered.

Five years ago the Maxwell Gang went their separate ways. Being four strengthened them, but it also pointed them out as the murderers of Lamium. Each went their way. Gallows returned to Baskar Colony. Clive returned to his home in Humphrey's Peak. Jet went...nowhere known or permanent, and Virginia was headed for Boot Hill.

Rather than do the latter though, Virginia has instead wandered everywhere but Boot Hill. Blazing her own path and letting her wings ruffle in the wind. Taking jobs where she could. Offers to join a team came her way and she declined each one. Offers to join, or 'partnerships' only made her wander father away.

Since five years ago her heart has become vaguely cold. Without the care of friends she has drifted away from herself as well. She only has visited Gallows and Clive on three occasions for each. She has been to each of their homes to rest two times, and there was the time they had a gathering of the old group—sans Jet—last year. She was disappointed they were not full, and the party was not so boisterous.

Her ARMs drawn she entered the musty dungeon caverns. A quiet stride. Her lavender dress—a new one—remained silent. Her layered long hair no longer in a ponytail, but in a bun. Her desire currently was to find the Lockheart Gem for an employer. It also was a case of her past. This dungeon was a remote headquarters at one time for the Council of Seven. Intriguing to a point. Virginia suddenly had a second reason that went beyond the job.

Entering a dank room she glanced at a rusted locker. Creeping into the room she came to a stop at the locker. She could not get it open. Standing back she flung multiple Tindercrests at the locker until it grew red. At that point she broke it with shots from bullets. As the dust settled in the room she stared into the dark locker. Something lied at the bottom and glanced at it. She picked it up gingerly. It was a journal. She was about to glance into it she heard a noise and simply put it into a pouch she carried.

Returning to the halls the torches that lighted them moved violently. Something was up. She moved cautiously about the halls and found the end to them in a room with a pond of pure water. Growing outward from a rock deep in the water was the very gem that she came to find. Breaking it off she took it and placed it in the same pouch turning for her way out.

As she did so she returned to the large room that acted as a foyer to the caves. That was when the torches in that room went out. She glanced around in confusion as she used the light from the outside sun to see. A growling was heard and the sound of a slurping gritting of teeth echoed through the area. She could not find what it was. She just knew it was no friend.

Turning in shock she finds the beast preparing to swipe her. It's claws large and very capable of cutting through her body. She was dead-meat. Or, so she thought. The next thing she saw was multiple hits taking the beast down and an echoing of an ARM.

As it quieted she sensed another body and glanced a shadow darting away. She was terrified still. She could feel nothing now. She was confused, and was not sure of the circumstance.

For the past five years she has been thrown into similar events. She was always about to be killed, and she had no final defense, and then something mysteriously killed the beast. This time she actually saw something that told her there was some shadow following her and stopping death from hitting her. She just did not understand it yet.

Standing on her feet firmly she cursed to herself. She was still too weak. She did not need the others! She did not need them to be strong. She was a strong person. That was the truth.

Virginia was not going to be weak. She should have been able to save herself all those times. She was strong enough to. She had the gem to prove it. So, she left to exchange it for gella.

She received the right amount of money and it was as she left that she remembered the journal. She looked at it real quick. She read on a glance that it mentioned 'Werner'. That intrigued her from there.

So she went to the front and found something totally different. It said Elakatrina, and had a name crossed out and Maxwell added. Must have been her maiden name Virginia mused. She did not quite remember what it was herself.

Then her eyes came to the words 'Shadow of the Sun'. It gave maps and directions and multiple other things, but she could not read all of them due to some poor handwriting and some misunderstanding of words she did not recognize.

So, she headed for the local Inn here in Jolly Roger. She would get herself a room and wash up. That was first on her agenda and then she would read from the journal of her mother. That was her plans.

But, then she looked to the roof of the ARM Smith. A shadow moved across it and behind a wall. Was it the same one or just some random coincidence? She was worried and slightly scared by that.

'Shadow of the Sun.' What was it? She was intrigued as Clive would be by such a thing. It definitely was her next goal.


	2. Chapter One

There was something strange about the journal of her mother. The bulk of it focused on this place, Shadow of the Sun. The rest read much like a diary. The most interesting stuff involved her mother and her father and how they met. Though, the pages with the 'good stuff' worthy of a romance were all missing, except a noticeable jealousy directed from Leehalt. The end of the journal covered up to Virginia's own birth. About that time it was seemingly no longer used.

That led her to theorize much Clive would as she made her way across the wasteland about why the journal was where she found it. From what she gathered she believed that her mother was researching something herself at one time. This, Shadow of the Sun place. Virginia was unsure if her father knew though. It would seem that she was looking into this place even before marrying her father since Elakatrina had crossed out her maiden name to put in 'Maxwell' in the front of the book where one puts their name.

Now, as for why it was where it was in that locker she came to another theory. She went with the simple reason. Her mother was probably traveling with her father while he was working with the Council of Seven which would make sense. When her mother became pregnant with her she probably would no longer do that. At the time she put that journal away in a locker so it would be safe before going to Boot Hill.

From what Virginia understood of the maps and other stuff she was headed for a place between Sunset Peak and Gunner's Heaven. As she made her way pass the mountains she stopped a moment to get a breath in. A pebble fell to the ground from a nearby rock formation. Jutting out form the rock's shadow was what she saw a human one. She was being followed! She knew it! By who? And for how long?

She was ready to go over there and find out, but decided against it. It may be no one, and if they were really concerned with her they would have come out or attacked by now. She just figured that it was another Drifter who was cautious about her. She was the same. When she would see a Drifter on the plains she would hide away or avoid contact because you never know just how others will treat you.

She made her way to Gunner's Heaven to talk to Ortega. As she met them she started off her questioning. "Have you ever heard of, Shadow of the Sun?"

"Hmm. If I recall the myth right, they say the guardian of desire, Lucied, had gone there by using the Caves of Barren to the northeast of here."

With that she left Gunner's Heaven. However, as she was leaving she felt a chill pass by her. Something all too familiar was here. She knew it was the shadow, but when she looked around the room she saw many Drifters and could see none that fit the build of the shadow. Shaking it off she left. At that a hat was raised and an eye watched her do so. The one in the hat stood up from the floor where Virginia had failed to look and followed after.

The Caves of Barren were dangerous. That was an understatement. She was headed into a place where strong monsters were known to frequent and traps filled the walls. Still, she recalled the myth Ortega had told her. Lucied went this way to get to the hidden (legendary) town of Lamuria. And, she had the medium for the guardian of desire in her palm, so she felt it only destiny that she make it through unscathed. There was one odd things she noted. It was the echoes that filled the caves with each of her steps. Sometimes they were there and sometimes they were not. It was like someone was stepping at the same time as her that made it seem like echoes. It was much too dark to have a proper look around, and she was not intent on being on the other end of a monster's fangs or claws so she continued onward with a cautious stride with a slight flapping off her dress as a foul cold wind went through as well as it just swaying back and forth as she walked.

A gun shot! She looked around. It was not her own. In the distance there was a howling as if a monster had just passed on. She trembled a bit. "C'mon Virginia. You're better than that. It's nothing you need to be afraid of. Just a random noise that goes to your head." She muttered with her hands lingering by her ARMs now. And, there was light ahead of her. She climbed some steps that seemed to go on forever and in multiple random direction until she came out at the end.

When she did exit though, she felt a weird swirl feeling in her stomach. She was upside-down! Or at least she would think she is. She was in inner-Filgaia. There was a red sun above (below) her and ground under her feet (above her). It was like she was walking on the underside of the land above. She did not totally grasp this and was quite confused. Still, she was standing in a plain, and it was as if she were on any other one on Filgaia, but the sun was different. And, the sky was a pitch black. She just continued on after glancing at the journal. It gave clues that she was meant to head to the north.

She walked for what seemed an eternity and hunger set in, but that did not slow her walk. Then she became thirsty, but she found a pond of clean water and drank from that. It was water just like any other. As she went on though, she grew tired, and then, she also noticed the temperature grow colder. It was becoming night she figured since the red sun was departing.

Using some wood and her Tinder Crest she started a fire and set up camp. For dinner she ate some random monster she had found not too far off and cooked. It did not taste good, but that was not the point of eating. She could see her breath for what felt like the first time in her life, and so she took out a blanket and warmed up by the fire while leaning against a rock formation. Then she her shifting of a foot. She was not standing. Her feet were not touching the ground since she was not sitting in such a fashion. It came...from above her. Atop the rock.

In as much stealth as possible and without her blanket she made her way around the rock with her ARMs drawn. Climbing upward in the same fashion. Crouched at the top of the rock was a man. She recognized his outline as the same that had been following her. It was time she felt to get the upper hand on their relationship. By that she jumped out at the man who in shock simply fell off the rock landing almost in the fire after a roll. She just stared down in shock. She killed him. She did not want that!

"Ah, you bitch." He muttered as he stood. "That hurt you know!"

Wait. "J-Jet?"

"Whatever." He brushed himself off. "I guess that means I can use this fire then." He turned to it and took out a pan and made himself a small meal as she climbed down and joined him by the fire. Just staring at him as she returned to her blanket. It was silent, and when his food was done he looked to her. She was staring right into his eyes. He looked at her confused. "Uh, what? Do you want some?"

"No, I ate."

"Yeah, I saw."

"Exactly, why were you seeing."

"Why...was I seeing? Uh, because it just happens when I open my eyes."

She hung her head low. She hit herself in the head for either saying such a stupid thing, or for his not understanding her. "I meant, why were you watching me?"

"That's real simple."

"You were following me."

"Uh...no, that would be untrue." He ate his food quickly.

She crossed her arms with a 'humph'. "I've noticed you following me."

"No, that wasn't me. You're mistaken." He flatly said in all seriousness. Or, was he? You can never tell with Jet.

"You're more talkative it seems."

"Well, I haven't talked in a long time...so...I don't know..."

"You like talking now?" She wondered.

"Well, I guess, since I never have anyone to talk to, I sort of like it, now. Before today—this very moment—I had not spoken for two years." She gaped at him. "Yeah, that's a long time. In that time I have made no noise. The only one may be a snore from here and there when I sleep in a bad place."

"What are you doing here, Jet? This is the last place I would expect to find ANYBODY."

"It's easy. Treasure."

"Treasure?"

"Sure, you remember how I love that stuff."

She looked at him cautiously. He seemed too intent on making her believe that he was here for treasure. "Why were you up there?" She eyed the rock.

"Well, uh, it's cold, and I saw your fire." He replied rubbing his mop of hair.

"Why didn't you just come and join me then?" She vehemently asked. If she could she would shake him by the shoulders until he was dizzy.

"I...don't know." He looked away as a breath from him moved about the air. A shiver was visible in his hand, but it was being forced down everywhere else. "I was really only just investigating." He lied.

"Is that the truth?" He nods. "If...you're heading for Lamuria too, why not join me?"

"No thanks."

"You didn't even think about it!" She protested.

"Don't have to." He simply replied.

"C'mon Jet. I know you're cold. You join me and you can have a nice warm fire whenever you want." She persuaded with a seductive face.

He glanced at her. Looked away. Stared at the fire. Looked to her face. To the fire, and back to her. "Fine. Whatever. We can join back up together...for AWHILE NOT, I REPEAT NOT FOREVER!" He made his point known. She just gave him a warm smile and clutched her blanket tighter. A cold wind flickered the flame of the fire. Jet closed his eyes to fight off the cold. The fire was not enough.

It was silent for some time and the only change was the moving flame, the occasional blinking of eyes, the way each of them would glance at the other every so often, and the breaths that show in the air. "It has been a long time...since I've been with anyone."

"You?" Jet muttered in shock.

"Yeah. I...I guess I'm sort of like you now. A loner. A lone wolf." She went on to say placing her face in the warm blanket. Her nose was feeling nippy.

"I...just never saw you that way. It's not right." Jet simply said, and that was it. The end of one discussion.

"I have never felt so cold." She said with a sigh.

"Living where we do we never got around to feeling so." Jet commented. "Weird experiencing new things, eh?" He looked away putting his face into his scarves and wiping his running nose. "Whatever."

"Aren't you, cold?"

"No."

"Your nose is running. Your nose is red too."

"No, that doesn't mean anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Forget about it."

She stared into the fire. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep now."

"You'll just end up falling asleep eventually." Jet noted and slumped forward.

"Why not lean against the rock here with me? You don't look comfortable, and you won't sleep well that way."

"I'm not going to sleep."

"You should. It'd probably warm you up."

"I'm not cold."

"Jet." She said softly. "I am. And...I heard that you can get warmer by sharing body heat." She blushed and look away.

"That's a whole other question Virginia." Jet replied.

"Oh?"

"Wait,"

"What?"

"I'm coming over." He scoots over towards her and sits to her right.

The two sit there in silence leaning on the rock. "Well, uh, do you want to share the blanket with me?"

"No."

"Okay."

They sit for a few more minutes in silence. "I, uh, no, okay. Yeah, sure." She hesitates and gives him a raised brow. Following she gives a giggle. "Hey, what? Why did you laugh?"

"It's...just that I find you amusing."

"Why?"

"It's not an insult, so don't worry."

"I wasn't." He glanced away. "Anyway, the blanket?"

"Okay." With a smile she let's lose the blanket and moves over to wrap the blanket around him as well. He touched it lightly before finally making it come back to Virginia. Looking away he sat there with her. It was oddly silent. Then she let out a yelp. "Ah! You are so cold Jet! Why'd you say you weren't?" He continued to look away. "Ah, you and your dumb pride."

"It wasn't that!" He snapped.

"What was it then?"

"I don't know...pity?"

"I don't grant pity Jet."

"You'd think I knew that by now, but, no." He muttered.

"You're as cold as the air that came from that doll Gallows had." She remarked.

"Then why do you still lean into me? If I'm so damn cold don't touch me."

"But...then you won't get warm." He let out a slight gasp. Like he realized something.

"Virginia?"

"Yeah?"

"I...want to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Well, for the past five years I...uh," He glanced away. Should he really tell her now? She would get mad. He knew she would. Either that or be disappointed. "I've been...Following...up on the Council of Seven. Yeah, I've been looking into all of what they did. Found out some new things."

"Oh? Like what?" He let out a relieved breath.

"Uh, well," He scratched his head. Would it have been safer to say the truth? At least then he would not have to search forever in his mind for a lie like this. "They were also a band."

"A band? Jet, they were? Seriously?" She balked at the idea of her father being in a band playing drums, guitar, or—shudder—a banjo. "You're joking!"

"You're right, I am."

"Well, what was it you really found out?"

"Uh, the Secret Garden was actually part of the Yggdrasil project."

"Was it? I guess that would explain why that place is still with plants and all." Virginia mused in thought, Jet sighed in relief. She believed it. That time it was a believable thing. "Do you think it will be warm again?"

"This is probably night. I'm not sure if it's night in the regular Filgaia, but, whatever. We have to adapt."

"So, that means that eventually it will be warm again in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Would you mind if I put my head on your shoulder?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, okay." She looked for another way to sit comfortably. He watched her.

"No, wait, yeah, you can, put it there. I...uh, thought you asked 'Can I put my head on your shoulder?', and not, a...would you mind...one." He faded off while looking away.

"Thanks Jet." She shifted her body and lay her head on his shoulder. "You really were always kind."

"Uh,"

"Don't worry, I'll never tell anyone else."

"Uh,"

"Tomorrow we'll head for Lamuria and then Shadow of the Sun, so be sure to get some rest in too." She urged as she closed her eyes. He sat there looking away for a long time after she had gone to sleep. His tense body finally relented and he relaxed. He looked to the fire. After a period of time looking there he finally looked at the sleeping woman's head on his shoulder. Right, woman. She was not some stupid annoying girl anymore. Of course, she may still be annoying to a point still.

"Damn, why did she have to jump me? I shouldn't have weakened like that and needed the fire." He commented quietly. He placed his cold face in her hair and decided to sleep as well.


	3. Chapter Two

"Get up!" He said with a shove.

Her eyes opened in surprise before warily darting to look at the man who woke her. The Drifter with his gray hair sat patiently staring into her eyes with an all too familiar sort of emotionless face, but, she was sure there was some certain emotion she could not identify on his face. "Did I oversleep?" She wondered wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"No, not really. You never set a certain time to wake so you could not have overslept or underslept." He replied as he stood surveying the land. "I saw the town."

"You did?" She wondered as she jumped to her feet. "How far away?"

"This got me pissed as Hell when I saw it." Jet led her to the other side of the rock and to her surprise the town was about ten feet from it. "How could I have missed it?" He muttered. Must have been too cold to think he figured.

"So, let's go then." She gave a smile and began for the town when he snatched her wrist stopping her. She looked to his serious face. "What is it?"

"First, you should clean up your mess back there." Jet commented. "Second, if we're going to be some, stupid 'team' or something you're supposed to stick with me and visa versa. You don't start running off like that."

She bowed her head and stared at the ground like a kid who was scolded by their parent. She had acted like some stupid novice. "You're right, I must have just gotten really excited." She hurried back to camp and packed up her belongings.

"I want to go ahead a little. Not into the town, I just want to scout it out from outside. I don't want to be killed." Jet stated and turned away only to be choked, and then fall on the ground as Virginia had snatched one of his scarves. He stood back up in an infinite anger. "What was that for?" He roared.

"You said we should stick together." She sternly reinforced with a smile.

"Well, yeah, but, this is a sort of one person thing." He brushed off his clothes. "I MEANT that we should stick together when it comes to entering the town."

"Oh."

"Right, so, I'll be right back." He turned away, but stopped keeping his back to her. "You...should be careful. You never know what may happen." He warned and began for the area to the town's right.

She smiled watching him leave. It had been too long since she had anyone travel with her. She told Jet that last night. She felt stronger though with him her. When there was more than one person she knew that together they can prevail where one would fail. Jet did make up for the majority of her weaknesses, and she made up for his.

A slight pause in her actions came as she folded her blanket—the last thing she had to clean up. She felt like there was something about to happen. She was not sure what though. A gust of wind came through and she looked at the red sun above and the black sky. She could now see far better than yesterday when she got here. Her eyes must have adjusted for the light difference.

Just as she was about to take in a breath she heard a shuffle. It was followed by a slight cling that could only come from two small metal items hitting each other. It was not Jet. She turned with ARMs aimed at the head of the one behind her...only to find a woman her age who stepped back in shock and fear.

The young woman was a redhead with long hair tied into two ponytails. Her skin pale and like porcelain. Wardrobe was not too different than that of what Virginia or any other woman would wear and it's color though was black which was the only odd part. Not many wore black in the desert. No, you wear light colored and light weight clothing there. The woman's wide cerulean eyes were met by Virginia's own.

Virginia put down her ARMs and slowly put them back into her holsters. "W-Wh-Who are you?" She stammered.

The woman calmed herself. "One should say their own when wishing an introduction."

"I'm Virginia Maxwell, and you are?"

"Emma. Emma Freya Warner." The woman replied in a controlled voice.

"Do you live in Lamuria?" Virginia wondered.

"Do I?"

"That's what I'm asking."

"Y'know, I can't quite recall where I was born."

"Well, good, but I asked where you live, and not where you were born." Virginia suddenly felt returning her hands to her ARMs, but did not.

"Virginia." Jet stepped back on the scene. "I-"He stopped as he caught sight of Emma.

"Jet." Emma simply said. Jet let out an 'Erk' and in his eyes it looked like he was shot. Then, he calmed.

"You know one another?" Virginia wondered.

Emma nodded. "Oh yes. Very well so, right Jet?"

"What?" Jet mumbled as his hand shook, but, in all actuality, it was not. It seemed like it only violently shook in his eyes. "I..I," Jet stammered.

"Are you okay Jet?" Virginia wondered with curious eyes.

Jet looked into Emma's eyes finally, and then he became calm. "Yeah, I'm just fine Virginia." Jet simply said in a tone that seemed colder than the night before. "Yes, I do know her. She's Emma. My girlfriend."

Virginia did not flinch. Why had he not told her? That he had a girlfriend. Then, Virginia noticed her hand was a fist and opened it so It was not. "Is that right?" Jet nodded as Emma giggled and joined Jet grabbing his hand. "You didn't bother to tell me about her. Where was she last night?"

"I just got here." Emma stated.

"Yeah, I didn't know she came." Jet agreed.

Virginia raised a brow. It took her a whole day to get here. Did Emma walk in the cold of the night? She did not look a bit tired or suffering from hypothermia or frostbite. "So, what did you find _Jet_?" Virginia asked coolly.

"What do you mean?" Jet wondered.

"You went to go scout ahead."

"Right. There was nothing. We should just go into town." Jet replied and walked away with Emma. Virginia jumped forward and snatched his scarf again. "What is wrong with you?" He questioned.

"You said that we should stick together. Why are you walking away like that?" She questioned with furious eyes every so often glancing at the calm Emma.

"Oh? Did I say that? I guess I forgot."

"That's not like you Jet."

"Can't I forget something every so often? There's a lot of thoughts that go through my mind. I can't recall everything." Jet simply says swiping his scarf from her hand. "Now, let's go."

Virginia hesitantly watched after as Jet and Emma walked ahead. Was the arrival of his _girlfriend_ the thing that was making him weird? She had no idea who this Emma was anyway. Still, she followed after as they headed into the town through the stone gate. The buildings were like a wall around the town and went at least three stories up. As they entered the homes in the middle were much smaller and only single-story. Strange enough, and to Virginia's surprise—but not Jets'—there were people living in the city and wandering about. Virginia was about to grab Jet's hand and pull him out of town with her, but Jet turned at that time and Emma was thrown in her way. She found that bizarre to happen right then.

"Virginia, we should split up and take a look around town." Jet simply said in a monotone voice.

"No."

"No?"

"Right, again, we should stick together. We're foreign in this place and I'm not getting in trouble without having backup." Virginia sternly replied.

"It's only a town Virginia. Everything will be fine." It was meant to sound encouraging, but from Jet it sounded the same as any other thing he would say. It was not persuasive at all. That tone was not in his voice.

"No!" Virginia sternly said and in an instance snatches his hand up that was not blocked by Emma. A thoughtless action on her part. "Now, don't make me have to tie you and I together. I will say again, we are not splitting up."

"Fine." He relented. Usually he would groan a bit too. He did not.

"This place is so big. Where do we start?" Virginia wondered.

"This way." He simply said and tug on her arm forcefully and led her away. Emma taking Jet's other side. Now Virginia regretted letting Jet look like a ladies man by taking his hand. "Here." He stopped outside a building with a sign that would suggest it a shop.

"What's here? Why stop here Jet?" She wondered.

"Because." He simply said and led her in.

The place was small and packed. Not by people, but by merchandise. Covering the room was various vases and the like. There were large mirrors and this is the area that Jet sped up and Virginia lost his hand. The next thing she knew she was all alone in the shop.

"Jet?" She muttered. She saw him nowhere in the shop—despite even how cluttered it was she could still tell she was the only person in there aside from the woman at the register.

Feeling incredibly cold and alone she simply sat down in a chair that was on sale nearby and fought off the anxious trembling in her hand. She could not get a straight thought at the moment. She was lost it seemed. At least it felt like she was in her mind. And, she wanted to know where Jet was. He seemed so careless walking in here. Was...his intention to ditch her here in the first place by coming in here?


	4. Chapter Four

Virginia burst out into the streets. No one was there. Everyone who was previously outside no longer were. A slight breeze went through the vacant town. She looked all over for Jet Enduro. She did not see him. She did not understand what happened to him. It was an hour ago that she lost track of him, and she was sure that Jet would have come back for her by now. Something was wrong, and she knew it.

She could not find Jet though. She had no tracking skill that could help her here. Only Jet or Clive would have been able to find Jet, and Jet is lost so she can not look to him, and Clive is miles away.

She dropped to the ground in a defeated heap. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She hated this place. She did so badly, and there was no one here to help her now. She could not leave either. She had to find Jet. That was the only way to leave.

And, where is Shadow of the Sun. That place is a ruin that she had come to find after visiting Lamuria. She could not go look for it until she found the man who she reunited with the night previous. She looked to her mother's journal. She did not know why she would. She would not find Jet there.

Reading the passages more carefully than before she comes across a legend. That's when she nearly dropped the book. It all made sense now why she did not see this place last night. The legend of Lamuria is that the town is only visible when the red sun is out. All other times it was nonexistent. She also read that a day in Inner-Filgaia lasts only fifteen hours compared to her usual twenty-four. It was already noon and that meant the day would end in three hours and the sun will go down in the fourteenth hour and not come up again until the third hour. She only had two hours to find Jet.

She stood up with confidence and ambition. She had a job to do and would not give up. Running through the empty town and entering all the shops and the Inn still proved to no avail. She could not find the Filgaia Sample. After an hour of searching things looked dim for her—and not just the situation, the sun was beginning to fade into the distance.

She had retained all of the mediums that she and the others collected through their journey. Clive and Gallows had given her theirs now that they no longer would need them. Jet kept his as well.

It was then as she sat broken-hearted that a medium glowed a vibrant color in her pouch. She slowly drew it from the bag, and looked to which on it was. Raftina, the guardian of love. She clutched it desperately. The guardians were still with her. It gave her a small fraction of hope.

It was at this time that an image of Jet came to her mind. She saw where he was. Standing swiftly she ran following the sensation the medium provided her in a 'Hot/Cold' manner and she found herself outside a shack in the far side of town she was not even aware of. When she thought about the shack though, she found herself three miles from the town.

"What the?" She was no longer in town and instead was staring at it. "Teleportation?" She wondered. That was it, no one wanted her there. Then it hit her: She was fine until she thought about the shack. Whoever was responsible for putting her here was a psychic. They could obviously read her mind. Then she also recalled one other time she had done something without much thought. When she went to grab Jet's hand the second time. The first time she had thought it and Jet had moved Emma in between him and Virginia. Emma?

Virginia formed a fist. "Girlfriend my ass!" She ran off for the town as fast as possible. If she were lucky she could get back there with at least fifteen minutes to spare if she did not slow. She could not think though either or she knew she would be transported away again.

After the three mile run Virginia was to say the least, tired. That did not stop her assault as she stormed to the shack and burst into it with ARMs drawn. It was empty. Duh, of course they would vacate it once she knew where to look.

Without another thought Virginia turned her attention back to the medium of Raftina. She had found her new destination and jumped the wall and left the town for a nearby cave. That was were she heard a voice that reminded her of Emma.

With another thoughtless action she rolled in like Clive would do and fired right into Emma's skull. That was it. Done.

Now, she stared at the bloody corpse of the woman on the ground in guilt. In fear. Trembling, she dropped her ARMs. She had killed a human. She had never done something like that before no matter how evil or rude they were.

She looked to Jet. He just gave her a blank stare. He was still not himself she thought. "Jet?"

He raised his Aigert-Lahm B/V2. "Virginia." With that he let out multiple rounds as she ducked behind a corner—while snatching up her ARM--until he stopped. She peered out only to jump back when he fired. Gaining a huge breath she again peered out and fired at his ARM knocking it to the ground.

She saw Emma stand back up with a laugh. "Look what you did bitch." Emma spat. "I will make sure that Jet kills you five times over just for this." She smirked. "Imagine how much it will hurt to be killed by your own partner."

"So, you aren't his girlfriend?"

"No. I never even met him until today." Emma shrugged. "I am a mind reader. I read his mind, found out his name, and then took control of his mind just as I am now."

"So, that's why he was acting so weird?"

"I don't know how you found me so easy, but I will not let you stop me. I have plans and I need Jet."

"What sort of plans?"

"I plan to rise from this land and enter Filgaia. I do not desire to be here any longer, but all who live her are stuck here. Only you Filgaians can come and go as you please." She spat at Virginia. "Your ancestors had to trap me and my kind here."

"You mean, you're prisoners?" Virginia wondered.

"If you don't mind, Jet, Kill her." Emma directed Jet's attention to Virginia with an extended finger. "I will await your victory at Shadow of the Sun, Jet." With that and a flash of light the woman with the blood running down her neck vaporized into the air.

"Jet, you don't have to do this." Virginia said with a quivering lip. She did not want to fight him. She could not, hurt him. She could not. It was impossible for her to do.

He snatched up his ARM. Letting a smirk come to his lips. "You can't stop Jet now. I have control over his mind. He cannot disobey me." Jet said with an entranced tone. It was Emma coming through his lips.

Backing away from the open Virginia could hardly breath. She was so frightened by this moment as Jet stepped for her with his finger on the trigger. "No!" She threw a rock at his head that did not stop his approach. She had put her ARM away. That would not help. She could not use them. She looked for something to use instead. So, she kept throwing rocks. "Stop it Jet! I'm not your enemy!" She protested.

"I told you. He will not stop as long as I am in control!" Jet forcefully stated as he lunged forward and prepared for a close range shot at Virginia. Virginia threw a punch. Nothing. A kick. Nothing. She had nothing left to use. She was dead.

"Jet!" With that Virginia did the only thing she had left in her. That was a full-on assault and barrage that stole his air through his mouth into her own. In other words, the deepest and biggest kiss she could muster at the time. That had Jet stumbling back as her weight pressed against him. She even knocked his ARM aside. Then she ran out of breath. So she paused, and then continued with the most passionate and possibly the first kiss she had ever given anyone in her life. Then she followed it up with a kick to the groin.

That had Jet on the ground. "The...kiss was enough...dumbass." Jet muttered in hurt words.

She fell to his side. "Jet?"

"Uh...yeah." He groaned as he rolled a bit on the ground. "Thanks...I think." He muttered. "No, no thanks. This is the worst pain I've ever suffered." He moaned.

"I'm so sorry! You were about to kill me though." She laughed.

"Hey! Don't laugh! It's not funny!" He snapped.

"Did she leave you alone?"

"No, my thoughts just overpowered her own I guess." He muttered as he sat up still in pain. He was not sure on the condition of his underside. Would he be able to be a father after such a hard hit he wondered. "I...Are you okay?"

"Now I am."

"Good." He glanced away like he did not care.

"Were you worried you hurt me?"

"What, no." They sat in silence. "Yeah."

"It's okay. No hard feelings. You didn't mean to." She gave him an encouraging smile. "We...should go find Emma then."

"Heh." Jet stood. "I'll get that bitch back for what she did. No one messes with my mind and gets away with it." He said with a defiant scowl and fist. Then he glanced at Virginia. "Uh...And...No one gets away with messing with my friends?" He added cautiously.

She nodded. "We have to find her."


	5. The True Chapter Four

"Let me see the journal." Jet commanded.

"No, I'm still reading it." Virginia turned away.

They had just seen the city of Lamuria disappear in the pitch black of the night. To make up for the loss of light they had started a fire even though they knew it would not help in the long run. Emma could see it easily. Still, they needed the light, and, they both knew the cold was coming.

"Virginia, let me see it." Jet demanded with squinted eyes.

"Hold on. Let me read it because it is MINE and then you can read it." She pushed him away. Jet has grown wary of any movement headed for him from Virginia so of course he backed away catiously.

He crossed his arms and sat back against the same rock they had slept by the night before. "Fine. Just hurry it up."

It was silent for a few moments as she read through the passages written in the book. "I found something."

"Oh?" He glanced away as if he were not interested. He was though.

"Yeah, I found out the history of Inner-Filgaia. My mother must have found this legend or something written somewhere." Virginia noted.

"Pheh. How can we rely so heavily on a dead woman?" Jet huffed. He only did that because he wanted to see if he could see his breath yet. She dropped her gaze from him back to the book and quietly stared at it. He glanced her way. He looked down and into the fire. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Like what?"

"Well, in some rude insensitive way." Jet shrugged. "Whatever. You can think of me in any way. I really don't care."

"I didn't think of you insensitive or rude even though your words were...Still, they hurt Jet." She softly replied.

"What? You want an apology? I'm the one who got kicked in the...whatever." He was not about to go into private parts with her.

"I said I was sorry about that!" She fumed. "Besides, it's not the same Jet. Emotional wounds hurt longer than any stupid physical ones!"

"What if I were a cripple?"

She paused. "That's...something different then."

"Oh, I see." He scoffed.

"Jet?"

"Yeah?"

She looked away. "Nothing."

"Then don't talk. It wastes time and air." Jet coolly replied.

"Do you still want to hear about what my mother wrote?"

"Go on."

"Well, she wrote that long ago when the first beings came to Filgaia there was actually...a second Filgaia."

"What?" He spat. "That's crazy talk."

"No, that's Crazy-Talk." She laughed. He stared at her. "You...never heard that joke?" He shook his head staring at her with a raised brow. "Oh, well, maybe if we have the time I'll tell you it."

"Uh, no, don't." Jet replied. "Uh, I mean, on second thought, I'd like you to. Just not right now."

"You seem to change your mind a lot."

"Get back to the story."

"Right, so, there was two Filgaia. The beings on the other one were at war with our ancestors. Eventually we won, obviously and we trapped their planet within our own, but they were incapable of leaving their prison, while we can go in and out at anytime." Virginia explained. "So, I guess these people have lived here for a VERY long time."

"I think that may be an understatement." Jet scratched his cheek. There it was. A cold brisk and chilly wind. Night was coming into affect. Virginia closed the book to make sure nothing blew away as she crossed her arms over her chest to fight off the wind. "It's night. What now?"

"I think you know," She replied as the wind died. "That Emma can easily find us at anytime. We can't just lie here and sleep as much as we would want to."

"So...where's Shadow of the Sun?" Jet wondered.

"So, you heard what it was she said while you were under her control?"

"Huh? No."

"Than how did you know that was where we should go?" Virginia wondered.

"Huh? I..."

She drew her ARMs. "You're still Emma!"

"What? No I'm not!" Jet protested.

"Yes you are! I know it!"

"Virginia!"

"Shut up and give me back Jet!" She pleaded ready to fire.

"Virginia? Look at me. I'm Jet." Jet stood ready to defend his honor. He would accept whatever shots Virginia would fire without a second thought. "If you have to shot me. Just do it already. I don't have the time to waste on this."

She lowered her guns and collapsed in a heap. Tears coming down her face. "I'm...so...sorry, Jet." She dropped her ARMs as she placed her face in her gloved hands. She did not want to become cold and have her tears freeze—although she was not sure if that were possible. "I...I'm so sorry."

Jet stood with wide eyes. He was not entirely sure what was going on. He stood weak. "I...Virginia." He stepped forward slowly. This was it. He had to tell her he figured. It was a good time seeing that she was already crying. She may do that more. She may instead rip his head off. He was unsure. He just had to tell her. "Virginia, I, know about it...because I followed you here."

She looked up to his eyes as he lowered to her level. "What?"

"For...almost five years Virginia...I have been following you."

She sat in shock. The shadow. He was the shadow that was always just right there. She...never even thought he would be that person. "J-Jet, I, I don't understand."

"I...have no home, Virginia." Jet expressed. "I...found myself with nowhere to go. You all had somewhere to go, and I didn't, and I guess, I was so used to you bastards, that I couldn't just go back to my solo career."

"You were following me?"

"About...ever since two months after we last saw one another. I...I didn't understand why you didn't just go home. At first...at first I was simply just trying to see what you were up to by not going back to Boot Hill. Then, I realized you weren't ever going to go there. So...I wanted to make sure...you,"

"You wanted to make sure I would make it?" She questioned.

"Something, like that." He glanced away. "I...I found that I was right. You almost died a total of thirteen times now. I've saved you...thirteen times."

"That was you?"

"Yeah. How else would I know?" He grumbled. "Look, I understand if you hate me or something, but, it's not like it can be taken back or be undone."

"No, I'm...more surprised than anything, Jet. Of all the people...You?" She dried the tears that remained.

"I'm sorry." He reluctantly replied. "But...will you still just work with me on this. We still have to get out of here...and we have no idea what we've gotten ourselves into."

"You're one to talk. You're the only one who has gotten into anything." Virginia grinned.

"Yeah...that's what I meant. I don't want to be taken by that bitch again." He vehemently sneered.

"Jet, I've always been the poster-child for cooperative teamwork—even when I'm teaming up with big jerks named Jet Enduro who despises me and is anti-social. So, why would I not team-up with you now. I have to see what is in Shadow of the Sun, and, we will have to stop that Emma woman if I wish to do that, and I know I can't do that alone." She gave him a warm smile as a cold wind came again.

He stared at her eyes and he saw that she was just as kind as ever, but a little less naïve. "Uh, yeah. Let's do that...teamwork...thing. I probably can get it right this time." Jet shrugged as he took off his scarf. "It's gonna be cold." He hands it out to her. "You may want this."

She reached out gently and took it from his hand. From his hand. She literally took the scarf not from the piece that hung out, but from the part that was lying in his hand. She gave him a smile and took it for herself as she draped it around her neck before tossing it over her shoulder. She gave him a nod. "We...should go."

"Right. Where?"

"To Shadow of the Sun. It is not too far I would think. It will be hard in the dark though."

"I got that covered."

"You do?"

"Well, I do have the Light Medium with me." Jet gave a grin to which she replied.

"Good thinking...partner." She added as he stood.

He lowered his hand and she took it gratefully. "I know it is." He said simply.


	6. Chapter Five

Virginia took in a deep breath. Her throat dry. Her hands trembling. Lingering over the holsters that hold her ARMs. Her body slowly becoming cold. Then a hand came to her shoulder from behind in the darkness. She tensed, and then relaxed her muscles. "Are you okay?" Jet asked.

She nodded. "Just, a little cold." She commented.

"Well, I'm sure that once we find that ruin we'll be fine." Jet reassured and continued walking behind the woman as they made their way up a mountain path with only the light from Jet's medium to guide them. Virginia was worried.

She had fired a round into Emma's face. Her face! And, Emma stood back up. That was...to say the least it should be impossible to stand back up after such a shot. Now, there was a chance that someone could survive such an attack, but still, to get up like nothing happened? "What's in this for you, Jet?"

"Huh?"

"Well, why did you want-"

"The same reason I followed you for five years."

"And, that is?"

"I don't know." He simply said and left it at that. "Does it matter? I don't think we have the time to think about such things...and...I don't think we should be thinking in the first place."

She nodded. "Right. I'll ask you later."

They continued an upward walk on a mountain path. The temperature becoming cooler and the ambush of cold wind came faster and stronger. Jet moved to Virginia's left side where the wind was coming from. "Can you go faster?"

"Are you saying I'm slow?"

"No, I was asking if you could go faster. Don't try to find hidden meanings in words because I would never use hidden meanings."

"What about, 'Whatever'? I'm sure you always mean something different than that." She mused.

"No, it means 'Whatever'." He scoffed. A burst of visible breath came with it. "We shouldn't be talking so much."

"If we don't talk we'll end up thinking, and isn't that worse?" She questioned.

He sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Okay, so what do we talk about?"

"Whisper. We are trying to get at least some sort of ambush." Jet reprimanded.

"Oh, sorry." She said in lower voice. "What do we talk about?"

"I don't know."

"Um, how about a game then?"

"No, that would involve thinking."

"Uh, then how about we just make up some random song."

"I'm not singing." He said with acid. Jet Enduro would never sing!

"Uh, then,"

"Stop. Just stop. You're thinking." He finally said with the voice of a foot hitting the ground that put the end to things. "It's cold."

"I know."

"Really cold."

"Yeah."

"Okay, that was my shot...but we can't talk about cold for long."

She giggles. "How about I just read from my mother's journal?"

"No, you need to be able to see, and I'll probably end up thinking that way."

"Y'know, I think she probably knows we're already coming." Virginia stated.

"Yeah, probably." He shrugged. "That's it, just use quicken on yourself and then we'll just run head on into that-"He stopped when he saw where they were headed next. "Uh, why's this here?"

A footstep ahead of them was the beginning of an old Viaduct made of stone that connected with one made of wooden planks and rope. Jet could not see how far the second one went. And, he certainly did not see how far from the ground it was or want to know. "We...h-have to cross this?"

"Look...we have to." Jet said with a determined voice. "So, can you do it or will I either have to go on alone, or carry you, which, I'd rather not carry you because of the weight." At that she slapped the back of his head. "Ah! Haven't you hit me enough for one day?"

"Were you sating I'm fat?"

"Well, no, but you must weigh something, and whatever it is will slow me down."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not scared. C'mon, let's go." With that she arrogantly took his hand in hers and began her way across the stone bridge before coming to the wooden one. Upon getting closer to it now she found that it was looking rather unreliable. A few planks were missing, and the rope looked old. Who knows if it could be used? Emma would not have used it. No, she would have teleported. But, still, Shadow of the Sun was on the other side of this bridge. They had to cross it. "Uh,"

"Having second thoughts?" Jet mused.

"Stow it." She calmly said.

A cackle rang out from behind them and Jet turned, but he disallowed Virginia from the same movement. "Look at the two lovebirds." The voice, male it would seem with a hint of arrogance and suaveness to it said.

"Who are you?" Virginia muttered even though she could not see. She was tempted to look.

"No!" Jet shouted. "Don't look at him."

"Why not?"

"If you do, he will own you."

"What do you mean?"

"Just...trust me Virginia. He can control any of the opposite sex with a glare."

"How do you know?"

"I know legends too." Jet smirked. "Now, get the Hell out of here you annoying girl." He pushed Virginia onto the bridge handing her the Light medium. "GO!"

She nodded her head. "Good-"

"Don't say it. That's bad luck." Jet simply said. "Uh, but thanks anyway." At that Virginia began her way across the swinging wooden bridge that gapped the two distances. Here and Shadow of the Sun.

Jet turned his attention to the man that was only a shadow in the dark. "So, you think you know who I am?"

"I don't think. I just know." Jet smugly said readying his hand to swing his ARM down to fire. "So, c'mon then."

At Jet's words a ball of fire came out for the Drifter who nimbly jumped aside. Jet did not know about that! He could not get close to the bridge. If he did that, the bridge would catch on fire. "Man of big words but small actions." The man in the dark replied.

"Shut up!" Jet stood and charged for the man, and missed. He could not see just great in the dark. He thought he could, but he was also unaware that in the dark he tends to be off by the slight degree of an angle. What he saw as ninety degrees straight in front of him was in all actuality at the seventy-five mark. "So, what are you, a demon?"

"I lived on the other Filgaia. I will have my revenge on you."

"So you work for Emma?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, and if you can get by me and into Shadow of the Sun you will see everything you'd ever want to know."

"What?"

"No time for Q and A's though." With that Jet was hit by three punches. One to his face, another to his upper chest, and the last in his gut. Finally there came an extended leg that kicked Jet aside and into a roll. Jet drew in a breath and at that moment stopped one half roll away from falling from the stone bridge. Too bad his enemy gave him a light kick knocking him off fully.

"Bastard!" Was all that escaped Jet's lips as he fell from the stone bridge.

Then, there was nothing. Just Jet's enemy left standing on the stone bridge. "Heh. He was a fool to think he could defeat the great Xavier."

"I don't think retard!" With that the stone bridge ripped apart and swallowed Xavier up. The bridge collapsed in the middle and left only a slight sliver as the stone fell thousands of feet to the bottom. Hanging loosely in the cold wind by a scarf and a boomerang was the gray haired Drifter. "Pheh. Now if only I could actually pull myself up." Jet said as he attempted the climb back up.

A booming cackle went out and a ball of fire just missed Jet's body, but got his scarf. With alert eyes Jet scrambled up his slowly burning scarf. Climbing through the actual fire. Just as he reached the top he was pulled up and thrown aside onto the front of the stone bridge. "You really thought you could kill me?"

Jet spit some blood aside as he stood. "Heh. No, but I was really just stalling."

"You act far too cocky."

"I was waiting for you to notice that." Jet scoffed. "So, what now?"

"Obviously your death. Do you like wooden coffins?"

"No, I'm a tomb sort of guy. Y'know, I think I'm so great and all." Jet pulled out what in the dark looked like a slip of paper. "Before you kill me, I have one request."

"Oh?"

"A game."

"Interesting. Go on."

"Well, it's a card game, but only with one card." Jet announced.

"How do you play?"

"Oh, you don't play." With that Jet tossed the Tindercrest at his boomerang. A fuse was lit. He was thankful he had put that dynamite right there. Before either of the two could say one more thing the dynamite went off right under Xavier. It was safe to say he was dead. But, Jet ran the wrong way, He should have went for the second bridge. "I'd give my life before my boomerang." Was all he said as he jumped between scattering rocks that were left of the stone bridge. Snatching his boomerang from the air he had only one jump left in him, and it was for the slowly falling away wooden rope bridge.

With one final reach of his hand his fingers lingered just next to the piece of rope that was now detached and floating in the air. Without the stone bridge there was nothing at this end for the ropes to connect to. Jet was still riled up and waiting to kill Emma.

So, that's why he grabbed the rope and swung with it. He was sure that when he reach the other side it would hurt seeing that he would not see the mountain side he would hit. He just hoped two things. One, that he could pull himself up after hitting the side and not fall. Two, that Virginia had gotten her lazy butt to the other side while he fought Xavier.

00000000000

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: I think it's safe to assume I'm making this up as I go._**


	7. Chapter Six

Virginia looked over her shoulder. "What was that?" She heard a loud noise, but saw nothing much. She just knew it came from behind her and it sounded like an explosion. Jet?

She did not have much time to wonder on that thought. Soon after she heard such noise she heard a second noise. To her left she saw with the aid of the medium that the rope loosened. She did not want to find out what was left, and so she darted for the end of the bridge—which she was unawares of how far was from her. As she ran for the end she could feel herself become lower and lower. She saw rock. She saw the end. And so, she jumped for the mountain and in a roll came to a halt atop a mountain cliff.

She took in a deep breath of relief followed by an exhale of worry. Jet was still on the other side. She wondered on his current status. Did he fall with the bridge? Did he remain on the other side? Where was he? Did that guy kill him? Was she all alone now? That question worried her more.

After brief moments of sobbing she stood tall. She would not just sit here and wait to see if Jet was okay. She had a job to do, and she could not let Jet hold her from it. He told her to go ahead. She had to obey his wishes—because they may have been his final ones.

She found the pass and made her way up the inclined plane as easily she could. A determined scowl on her face. A fire in her eyes. There was still so much she did not understand about all of this. She wanted to find the truth. Though, she would not just yet.

"Hello there." Virginia looked up the hill only to get kicked in the face and roll down the same hill. Luckily she came to a stop on the cliff. The attacker landing from a jump right behind her as she moved to sit upward.

"Who are you?" She wondered.

Arriving in the light the medium created was a woman with short skirt and long blouse. All of which being black. A smile on her lips. Her hair to the arc in her back all in the same color of her dress. "What does that matter? You have somewhere to be."

"Where is that?"

"In the land of death along with so many of my kin." A short blade was drawn from one of her sleeves. "Are you prepared for the journey?" The woman wondered.

Virginia was ready to back away from her protagonist, but she instead moved forward while standing and snatched up her ARMs. In defense the woman swung at Virginia only to get air. Had Virginia kept her hair in braids like she used to it would had cleaved her hair off. As Virginia moved aside she fired out on the girl knocking the woman back onto her butt. "You should ask yourself that question." Virginia said in all seriousness and a tone and face that went with it.

"You, won't kill me girl!" The woman spat. "You don't know who you're up against." She said as she stood.

"Well, I did ask your name."

"Right. I should give it now then. I am May. May of the Moon."

Virginia gave her a blank stare. "And...why would I be afraid of that. I never heard of you."

May nearly collapsed at that. Instead she scowled. "I will make sure you won't forget my name then!" With that she closed the distance between Virginia and she. Multiple swipes of her blade resulted in nothing more than her previous attacks. Virginia was just dodging every one. As May went for another attack it was blocked by Virginia's ARMs and then Virginia countered with a headbutt causing each to stumble back and away from the other.

It was here that Virginia fired her ARMs, but the shots were deflected by May's blade before the woman stormed forward with the equal power of a small hurricane. Virginia countered such by remaining calm until the final moment in which May went to attack. In this moment Virginia jumped over the attack that came horizontally and she fired back into May causing the woman to fall to her knees.

"Devastate!" Virginia roared and the non-elemental attack went on to do as it's name suggests and bring May to the dirt and rock in a bloody mess.

Virginia stood a few minutes with wary breath. After seeing that May would not be standing up her breath returned to normal. Only in time for her to throw up all over May. She was a little weak stomached when it came to seeing just mounds of disgusting mutilated forms. She was not sure what part of May was what now. That was how mortifying it was to her.

She did not have time for this though. Jet was somewhere possibly dead and she was just standing around like an idiot. She had to get to Shadow of the Sun.


	8. Chapter Seven

"Okay, seriously, this is starting to tick me off." Jet grunted. For about a half hour he has been hard at work climbing up the bridge that still hung loosely to the cliff. He just had no idea how much farther he had to climb. He was sure he at least by now climbed almost 200 feet. How much further can a bloody rope bridge go? Still, that didn't make him give up or rest one bit. He had an objective and nothing was going to be placed between him and it. As he thought about it he probably should also be concerned with Virginia. She was all alone now that he was down here. He was the slightest bit worried about her. He did have his own concerns to face right now so he did not have the time to think about her. As far as he knew she was safe, and he was the one in danger. He was one slip-up away from certain death—that or he would fall some and catch the bridge and he would have even further to climb.

The thought of having to climb farther sort of made him cringe. HE WAS NOT ABOUT TO CLIMB ANYMORE THAN HE HAS TOO! Deciding that he should pick up his speed Jet climbed with the agility of a monkey—had there been such a thing as a monkey on Filgaia or this Inner-Filgaia.

It was a weird sensation that went through him when his hand touched earth. Actual earth! Ground! He nearly pissed his pants he was so excited. Though, it was not a 'Jet' move to make so he did not pee his pants. No, instead he simply climbed up and collapsed on his back on the rock. It may not be comfortable, but at least he didn't have to hold himself in place there.

After a few minutes of gaining good air and letting out the bad he turned his head. Black hair. That was what he could make out. On closer inspection he noticed that it was not hair, but rather a bloody corpse. His eyes shot wide. What the Hell did he just walk into? "Ah, what the...I stepped in something!" He roared as he stood and wiped his feet free of whatever squishy thing he had stepped in. Possibly a liver he figured.

Then it donned on him on what he was actually looking at. It was what was left of May. He did not know it was May, but he still stumbled upon it in any case. "Who...What's going on here?" He muttered. "Man, you die for a half-hour and you miss out on all the good stuff." He made his way forward only to run into something tall and hard. Falling on his butt roughly Jet looked up at what he hit in irritation. "What...the...Oh, shit."

Before him stood a lanky man of nine feet and with broad shoulders. A man who he could not fully make out in the dark of the Inner-Filgaia night. He just knew it was something and he was not liking it. "You...kill sister May?" The near-giant uttered.

"Uh, what? What's a May?" Jet wondered in shock. He remembered Asgard, and he did not even think that golem was as tall. He had never seen something in humanoid shape so tall. "Uh, you...don't mean," He pointed to the corpse out of the way. "That...mess do you?"

"That mess is my sister! How dare you? You kill her and then insult her!" The tall man roared and Jet was almost sure that he saw a bit of flame in his mouth and eyes. "I swear on my name, March of the Sun, that you will pay for disgracing my family!" With that an uncountable number of kunai knife were flung outwards and Jet was left to deftly maneuver them. What luck, Jet only took four in his body out of many. One in his right arm, one in his back, one in his left leg, and one in his right butt cheek. At least it hit the meaty one.

Jet pulled each out quickly and gave March a gaze with equal intensity. "I just climb up that far and now you make it so I can't sit? That's it! You're so bloody dead!" With that Jet just pounced like a tiger and took March down to the ground. Following the tackle Jet went berserk—ala 'A Christmas Story'—and beat the living snot out of the tall man. When he was finally out of breath Jet retreated. "You don't...do...that...to Jet End...Enduro." He said gasping for air. He put a little too much into his attacks.

Unfortunately, March stood back up which brought a sigh and groan from the gray haired man. "You will not get away with killing my sister."

"Look idiot, I didn't kill your damn sister!" Jet protested. "Now back off! I'm too tired for this shit."

March continued to attack tossing numerous shuriken stars out at Jet who again dodges each—this time not getting hit (There were less). March simply moved forward slowly and swung his fists together for Jet. Jet scurried between the tall man's legs and drew his ARM while on his back. Without a thought Jet let loose a Gatling attack giving March's hindside as much bullets he could get out.

Jet knew he was the victor and smirked. Unfortunately as he lied there he failed to notice that March was falling backward. At the last moment Jet's eyes shot wide and he tried to roll away. It was too late.

"Bastard!" Was all that could be heard for miles around following the defeat of March.


	9. Chapter Eight

"Finally!" Jet squirmed free from his prison covered over in some of the blood that came from March's back. Standing tall and dusting himself off he took a deep breath of great fresh air. "Now, to find Virginia and that evil woman with the fiery locks." He stood there for a moment. "Did I just say fiery locks?" He put his hand to his chin. "Well, she was just the slightest bit of hot if I remember in that few seconds before she took over my mind." He stood there a moment a blinked. "She took over my mind! That's right. What am I doing even thinking about her like that for a moment."

With that Jet began for the hill and started his way upward for what he thought would be Shadow of the Sun. He then noticed an odd warm wind that came by him. "Warm wind?" He muttered. Shrugged and then continued up the slope. Then he recalled how it was freezing cold outside. Why would there be a warm gust of air? "Oh, fu-"At that something struck the area around him so hard that he was thrown into the air only to land twenty feet further up the mountain than he was. "Why me?" He groaned as he took out splinters of rock from his abdomen. He did not think that was possible, but it is it seems.

From the corner of his eye he saw a dragon flap it's wings as a roar rang out. "How did I miss that?" Jet muttered standing on his feet. Grabbing his ARM he simply fired right into what he saw as the dragon's mouth. Fight finished. Dragon falls into the pitch black dark that Jet was headed for had he fallen from that bridge earlier.

Jet turned back around and made his way upward again. As he did so he moved his leg forward only to notice that there was something there. A rope? The next thing Jet knew there was a boulder headed downward for him. No, wait, it was the biggest snowball he would ever see had he seen snow before. Too late to do anything Jet was simply crushed into the ground by the snowball that came hurtling down. Luckily for Jet he had grabbed onto the same rope he tripped. Had he not he would have been down with the dragon. Standing up wet Jet shrugged it off and sneezed blowing some snow from his nose. An evil annoyed glare coming from his eyes. He began to run upward only to fall to the ground. He looked to his feet. Another rope. He groaned and rolled aside as a second ball of snow hurtled past him. Rolling back to the middle and standing up he brushed off the dirt that clung to him now. He made another attempt forward, but spotted a third rope. He grinned, he was not going to get snowballed this time.

Jumping over the rope he finds himself in a trap that was dug into the ground and covered over. "Oh, hi there Jet." Virginia simply said as he sat on her. "Mind getting off me?"

"Yeah, sure h-"The trap closed up above him and he grown. "You could have mentioned that." He moaned.

"Yeah, well, you are crushing me." She groaned. He shifted around in the dark until he was sure he was not sitting on her. No, he was sitting on the bones of some other person. "You got me all wet. Is this sweat?"

"You didn't see the bloody snowballs?" He said in outrage.

"Uh, snowballs? What's that?"

"Big balls of frozen water." He explained.

"Oh, no."

"You didn't hit the ropes then?"

"Oh, no, I did. Nothing happened though, so I kept walking. I tripped over the last one and fell in here." She explained.

"Oh, I hate you." He said with a sigh. He had the medium for the guardian of luck! Why was it not working for him? "Have you tried to get out of here?"

"No, not yet. I must've hit my head." She mumbled.

"Use the light medium so I can at least see you." Jet demanded.

"Okay." The hole just big enough for three was lit up by the medium. Jet glanced at Virginia with worry. "What is it?"

"You're...bleeding." He said.

"Oh?"

"You must've gotten it when you hit your head. Come here." She scooted towards him.

"What're you going to do?"

"Well, I'm going to make sure it's not bleeding anymore. I don't need you dying on me, now do I? I won't get much done that way." He muttered as he took his last scarf off and used it to mop up what blood there was coming down her face. Her hair was sort of clumped on her right side because of the blood drying in it. "The good news is that you're not bleeding anymore it seems. That, and you didn't lose much in the first place."

"What's...all this blood on you?" She softly said.

"Huh? Oh, it's not mine." Jet said glancing down at his clothes. "Some guy named July or March or some random month said I killed his sister. She...looked pretty bad when I saw her."

Virginia looked away. "I'm sorry Jet."

"Huh? Why?"

"I killed May. He was mad at you for what I did." She said with guilt.

He stared at her silently for a moment. "Don't...blame yourself. I'm sure even if you hadn't he still would have attacked me for another reason. Probably the same reason that woman attacked you."

Virginia surprised him by falling into his chest. He was about to push her back and yell at her, but she spoke first. "I killed her Jet! I've...never killed another human before...They were always demons." She said as tears welled up. "It...was horrible to see. I'm glad you made it. I was worried you died."

"Uh, how could you think I died?" He scoffed. "The Filgaia Sample does not die, and if I did, I would just come back as a ghost to haunt you after I killed that damn Emma."

"Are we going to get out of here?" She wondered.

"Well, seeing that you haven't tried to escape, we probably could just easily break that rock above us. Probably with the guardian's help." Jet observed the ceiling to the hole. "Okay, let's get the Hell out of here." With that he tried to push whatever was covering the hole with his arms. Then he tried it with his back using his legs to push up. Then he grunted and sat back down to gain some breath.

"Jet, there's a dead man here. Did you really think he didn't try that?" Virginia mused. He glared.

"Oh, so I'm no good at escaping? Let's see you try." Jet crossed his arms.

"Okay, here goes." She flung some tindercrests at it. Eventually the rock got so hot that it cracked when the outside air that was cold met with it. Shattering all over Jet who was not ready for it. "Wow. I guess we won't need to use the guardians." She climbed out. "You coming?"

"Just leave me...here in my slowly dying pride."

"Jet, no one likes hubris." Virginia said in a sing-song voice.

"Okay, I'm coming." He stood and shook his body like a dog never uncrossing his arms while sending pieces of rock and dust about. Finally he simply just jumps out of the hole. Who knew he could jump that high? "So, upward right?" He glanced away from the rope he jumped over. Now that he could see things he actually saw the noticeable strands of ropes. "Man, I can't wait until daylight."

Virginia and Jet continued up the mountain for about and hour. It was this moment in time in which Jet noted that Virginia must be his good luck charm because he had not been attacked by any random thing for over an hour. She blushed, and he kept going for five minutes before rethinking what he said. At which point he blushed as well, but she was past that.

After another hour it seemed like dawn would be coming soon. The air was getting warmer and the pitch black of the night was starting to become red. It was at this time the two got to the peak.

Nothing. There was nothing up here. Virginia kicked a rock in frustration. "Where is Shadow of the Sun? We climbed all this way for nothing?"

Jet tugged on her sleeve with a gaping mouth. "Uh, Virginia?"

"What?"

He pointed out an area in front of them and away from the flat area they had been looking at. "We're not done yet." He grimly noted as she sighed. There was still mountain going up, and unfortunately for them, it was at an exact ninety degree angle and no longer would they have the benefit of inclined slopes to climb. "So, how's your mountain climbing skills?" Jet wondered.

"I...I suck at it."

"Right, I was thinking so." He groaned. "I guess...I'll have to carry you then." He reluctantly replied.

"Are you sure you can? It looks pretty far."

"Good point. You better heal me first."

"Still, are you sure you can carry me up that?"

He squinted his eyes to try and see the top. "Uh, whatever." He said with a shrug. No, he was really just as concerned though. He did not want to get halfway up and learn he can not do it. For his sake as well as hers'. Still, he was going to try it anyway. Try being the key word.


	10. Chapter Nine

"Are you sure you're okay, Jet?" Virginia wondered with concern.

"I'm..." He grunts. "Just..." Another grunt. "Fine." He moved his hand to another holding on the mountain side. Virginia hanging from him with her grip tight. She was not about to fall. "How," He takes a breath. This was killing him. "How much,"

"How much more?" He simply nods as he lets the sweat run down his neck. The weather was becoming warmer. Morning was coming. "I can see the top from here! Just...a little bit farther."

"How," He grunts as he continues to climb with clenched teeth. "How little?"

"Oh...about...100 or so feet I would think."

"Just," He groans. "Great."

"Are you tired?"

"No," He grunts as he pulled himself and Virginia up even farther. "More," He moved again. "Talking."

"Oh, you need your concentration." She simply replied. "I wish one of us could fly."

"No," Jet grunted. "You don't."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," He moved upward again. "Then," He moved again. "We'd have feathers."

"Oh, right, and wings. That'd be weird." She laughs. He meanwhile gains a squinted glare and kept climbing. She laughs while he's dying practically? Maybe he was wrong, she might not be his good luck charm. Damn, he got another blush happening now. "You can do this Jet, I know it."

"Too late," He grunted. "To change minds anyway." He lifted himself and her onto a small cliff where he could rest a moment. "Water. Do you have any water?"

"I, uh, no canteen." She shrugged with a smile.

"Man." Jet moaned.

"I have the medium though, Maybe, I can use that in some way." She said as her mind went to work. "Uh, Pressure!"

With that Jet was inside a bubble of water and flipped upside down and deposited back on the cliff soaking wet and with a headache. "I...should just be thankful I didn't die." He groaned as he just lied there.

"I'm so sorry!" She moved to his side. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live." He slowly sat up. "Look, heal me and then we'll keep going."

"Right." She nodded her head for a double acknowledge. "Heal!" At that Jet was back in tip-top shape.

"At least I can feel good for about...two seconds." He stood up and stretched. His muscles were sore, and where they weren't they were either numb or would be sore in due time. "Okay, get back on my back. We're getting to the top on this one."

"Okay." She moved over to him and wrapped her arms around him—which she did feel a bit embarrassed about doing all together. They had been so close she almost thought she could hear Jet's mutters and thoughts.

Just as soon as she got on Jet was on his way up. He was not waiting around, and he had learned to ignore Virginia's presence on his back so he would not go red. Besides, he wasn't sure if he had a back anymore. He couldn't feel it. The only thing he knew he still had was hands, feet, and his head—and he only knows about the hands and feet because he uses them and not because he can feel them. It did not help that before dawn came it was freezing cold for him. "No, this is not happening." He groaned.

"What are you saying?" Virginia questioned.

"Can you get your ARM and shoot that thing?"

"What thing?" She questioned looking up and left and right—not down or they both would die when she freaked.

"That huge bird that's about to attack." A shadow came over them.

"Oh." She moved her one arm to get one of her pistols and tried her best without falling off Jet to turn and hit the bird. She could not get a clear shot and the bird flew past them so fast that Jet almost lost his grip. "I'm going to have to move to your front."

"What?" He gulped.

"I can't get a good shot in otherwise!" She slowly made her way around Jet so that she was facing him and visa versa. Still, Jet had to cling for both their lives on the rocks.

Then he got Virginia breasts in his face and his hands nearly slipped. As she fired out at the encircling bird he was having a battle over his attempt to not get his hands sweaty out of nervousness or they would slip and the two would plummet. "Did you get it yet?" Jet questioned with a high pitch tone.

She heard the awkwardness of his voice, but now was not the time to mention it. She fired out again and missed. "I'm going to have to use my other ARM. I'm going to wrap my legs around you." And she did just that wrapping her legs around his torso. That did not help him much either. She took out her second ARM and fired upward and outward at the large vulture looking bird who was trying to knock them off. Three hits dead-on and the bird plummets into the abyss. "Got 'em!"

"Uh...good."

She put her ARMs away and moved back onto his hindside. Jet remained still a few moments. "Uh, are we going yet?"

"Yeah...uh...Just a moment. I need to think about something."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Baseball would be a good start. I hear that works." Jet muttered and remained there a few moments. "Uh, okay, good, let's get going." And the two began again. Jet was sure that now his fingers were definitely numb. From that long period of just hanging there.

"Look, we're almost there!"

"Uh-huh." He grunted. Just in time. As soon as Virginia got off of him at the peak he fell. She grabbed his arm.

"Jet!"

He snapped awake. "Shit!" He climbed up in a hurry knocking over Virginia and falling on her. He lied there atop her a few moments as his mind went through reboot. Finally he sat up and got off her. "Man, that was a first. I mean, I messed up." Jet muttered with crossed arms as Virginia slowly sat up with a red face. "You okay?" He questioned.

"Why do you not think I am?"

"Your face is all red." He pointed out. "It could be oxygen deprivation...or maybe you're too cold. Did you get frostbite? No, wait, frostbite looks different, right?" She simply elbowed him in the gut and stood.

"Wow." She looked out on the land. It was a marvelous sight from up here. She could see the entrance they came in through. "Well, where's," She looked to her left and saw what they had been looking for. A large ruin opening that led into the mountain Jet just climbed.

Jet noticed it too. "Do you mean...We could have just blew a hole in the mountain and got in it?" Jet muttered.

"Looks like it." Virginia replied.

He let out a loud yell and simply fell on his back in defeat saying a random amount of curse words. Some curse words Virginia had never heard before such as, 'Communist Bastard', 'Fudjamonks', 'Cordially'—which she was sure was not a curse word, but a real word—'flaming tacos', 'Flipping Barf Beans', 'Gallows', and 'Crap in a Hat'. She just had to laugh at all that.

**I gave you a lot of nice goodies in there so be happy. I stopped working on the ending to the RPG game that I'm making to write this. Next time I'll continue the story as well as...Teach you this weird card game I made up. I call it Jenny. The name will make sense in time.**

**Well, Time to sleep and then go to class, or, maybe go to class and then go to sleep. Whatever.**

**I'm never taking this Dayquil stuff again...No matter how sick I may be!**


	11. Chapter Ten

Jet moved slowly around a wall. His ARM at the ready. Nothing. Another hall that would appear to be empty. Just great. He motioned to Virginia who joined him in the next hall. The corridors were poorly lit by lines of torches. The cool stone walls giving off cool auras. The ground covered in the dirt of the mountain. It would seem the stone walls are there to reinforce the shafts.

Their path was becoming annoying to Jet. They would walk about ten feet, turn a corner, go another ten feet, and be sent down a ramp made of dirt until they got to a new floor where they would do the same over again. They had done this about thirteen times now. Jet and Virginia were running on empty. No food. No water—Jet had learned that earlier. No sleep. Virginia was obviously weaving in and out of the living world. Jet would never admit he was tired, but he was uber tired. His vision was starting to worsen due to that state.

It was this moment he dropped his ARM turning the next corner. "Jet?" Virginia muttered.

He looked down to his ARM. He had dropped it out of his sleepiness. He could not believe how weak he was. "Virginia...We can't do this."

"What?"

"Not to ruin your confidence...But there's no way we can...win...if we're both not even close to our best." Jet fell to the dark brown dirt stirring up a cloud. "We need to sleep at most. I think...I saw a rat...I'll catch it for food." Jet muttered as he lied on the ground. He fired. Dead rat. "Well, go get it and cook it up."

She put her hands on her hips. "What? I'm not your wife Jet! Go cook it yourself."

"I WOULD if—IF—I could feel my hands! But since I had to carry you up a damn mountain I can't feel shit! So, make some food while I rest up. Then I'll let you rest."

She stood there a moment. "I'm sorry. I...didn't know."

"Well, now you do." He rudely said and rolled on his side so he would not see her. "I can't believe this!" He roared. "The worst trip I've ever been on. It's your entire fault I'm here too. You just had to go into some place called Inner-Filgaia."

She glared at him. "Hey! I didn't ask you to follow me here stalker!"

He sat up and sent the look back. "If I hadn't been here you would be dead now!"

"Oh? Who saved who so far Jet?" She grinned. "I saved you from Emma, and from that hole in the ground."

"Hey! I would have gotten out of that hole eventually!" He protested. "Besides, who was the guy who fought that weird guy on the bridge, that March dude, a dragon, climbed up a rope bridge for like...300 feet, and then carried you all the way up almost another 300 feet?" He argued. "You killed one woman. So what? One woman and one bird. That's all. You had all the easy stuff."

"Hey!" She argued and then stopped. "Jet, go to bed."

"Don't order me around! You're not the leader anymore for one thing."

"I wasn't ordering you!" She calmed. "We shouldn't be fighting. I think you're just tired. Please, go rest some and then we'll talk."

He stared at her and lost his anger. "Yeah, I, I guess I lost my cool...I'm sorry." He sat on the ground and tried his best to sleep.


	12. Chapter Eleven Breaking Into the Double ...

"Here." Virginia put some roasted rat in front of Jet. "You up?"

He groaned. Wiping the sleep from his eyes. "I had this great dream."

"Oh?"

He stared at her. He quickly went to the food. "Rat sucks." He muttered.

"I meant, 'Oh?', as in, tell me about your dream." Virginia glared.

He continued eating. He knew there was a fiery aura from her and eventually stopped. "Oh, well, it wasn't...that great. Nothing to mention."

"Oh, is that why I heard my name?"

He stood up embarrassed. "You heard that?" He squeaked.

"I...was joking." She blushed. "You were...Why was I in your dreams?"

"Uh...I was..." He scratched the back of his head with a light laugh. "Um...We were swimming in tons and tons of golden coins. Yeah, swimming...in gold...yeah." He trailed off.

She gave him a wary look not entirely believing his lie. "Well, whatever. I'm going to sleep now."

"Yeah...uh...You do that." He muttered as he walked off a bit cursing his stupidity as Virginia settled down for bed. He looked back to her. It had only been a minute and he could tell she was already sleeping. He walked back over slowly. He looked left and right and all around. Looked at her face. Then he placed his coat over her to keep her warm and quickly darted across the way until he was ten feet away. No one would know just how nice he could be as long as no one saw him or has any proof.

He sat there awhile looking around in those two corridors on the fourteenth floor of this ruin. He still was not sure if this was Shadow of the Sun though. He was thinking that this was the path to Shadow of the Sun still. He was expecting more of this place, and he knows this is not the ruin they are looking for. The way the halls are designed make it as if it were a route one took to get to some place important, and, not make it look like an actual important place.

Hearing a noise he moved down the hall. As he stood peering up the ramp they came down he noticed a strange air at his back. Turning he came face to face with someone he was not expecting.

"Hello, Jet."

"Oh, Emma."

"Good, you remember my name." She stepped back with a grin. "I love it when handsome men remember my name."

"I, uh, like the same." He blinked. "I mean, I like it when a beautiful woman remembers my name. Not a handsome man." He nervously replied.

"Yes, I was thinking that."

"Oh?"

"I can read minds Jet. I've been reading yours a lot. It interests me."

"Me?" He questioned. He glanced at Virginia who remained asleep. He was not going to think about anything, but that meant he could not come up with some form of plan. And, he could not know if around the corner near Virginia there was another who would be quick to kill her at a moment he attacked Emma. "Why me?"

"Well, you're...an android? That was one things that made me interested in you."

"Well, I have better features."

"Oh yes, of course, this chest of yours' for one." She gingerly moved her finger along his chest. "You have quite a build. And, you were able to climb that mountain with that girl on your back. Quite astounding."

"Yeah, annoying too."

"Well, Shadow of the Sun isn't the easiest of places to get into if you can't teleport like me."

"I would think so."

"So, Jet, what are you in this for? Why help that woman?"

"Virginia?"

"Oh, why do I ask? I know why. I can read your mind after all. Even when you're dreaming." She grins.

He blushed an looked away again scratching the back of his head. "You, uh, saw that?"

"Well, I tried my best to edit out the parts that you...Well, you know."

"Uh, I'm usually not that kinky."

"Well, it's only kinky the first time."

"Uh, yeah." Damn. She had a way of making him a blubbering idiot for some reason. "So, what are you up to?"

"Why did I come here?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'd like to get free from my prison here. You see, I'm a demon."

"You are?"

"A very human looking one, aren't I?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, all who lived on my planet are demons as well. Xavier, May, and March were all demons." She explained.

"Come to think of it, you're not the head honcho are you?"

"Me?" She laughed. "No, I'm not."

"Well, who is?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She turned away. He thoughtlessly moved forward and spun her around wearing a glare. "Oh, you're serious. I'm so glad." She moved forward and took his lips. There was a kiss until Jet recognized what he was doing and then he pushed her away. "Oh, don't play hard to get Jet. Wouldn't you like to do the same you did to Virginia in those dirty dreams of yours?"

"You?"

"Jet." She softly said.

"What do you think?"

"Oh, I know EVERYTHING Jet."

"Oh, so, you know you were there too?" Jet scratched his left cheek. "That was PURE COINCIDENCE!" He protested.

"I'm sure." She mused.

He glared at her. "It was a dream. A dream is a dream. It's not real. I'm a guy. Guy's think stuff like that from time to time." He had grown up since the group broke up five years ago. By all technicality, he was about sixteen or so for real now. Seeing that he was about ten he would think when the group first met. At least, that's what he thought since Yggdrasil had happened ten years previous to that. So, he thought it only natural that he would just recently be changing in some ways if he was any bit human. "It doesn't...Wait, you like me?"

"Well, I may have controlled you, but," She covered her cheeks to block out her blush. "You really are a sweetheart Jet! I can see why Virginia loves you! AH!" She started twisting left and right to cover up her nervousness. You would think a mind reader would not be nervous. "Oh dear, did I say all that? That I like you? Oh no. Oh Dear!" She blushed even more and her face was soon redder than her hair. "I can't believe this!" With that she teleported away leaving a dazed Jet.

"Uh...That was just...a bit unexpected." Then his thoughts left Emma and moved onto something more important. "Who does she and those other guys work for?" He questioned. He looked around again. "Okay, I wish I had some sort of thought-blocking device." He agreed and crossed his arms. "I'm just going to play tic-tac-toe until that woman wakes up." He settled on as he sat across from Virginia and started playing in the dirt.

That was weird...Anyway, I gave you this bonus second chapter today so I wouldn't have to tomorrow! I'm going rafting...so...if you find a body in the nearby river help me out. Anyway, there'll be another exciting chapter on Sunday and maybe I'll add some action again, who knows, I make most of this up as I go.


	13. A Random Chapter with No Story Whatsoeve...

I feel like I gipped you yesterday by not posting a chapter like I said I would so I'm going to post this random chapter just to make up for it before I'm too late.  
  
The Rules of the card game known as 867-5309 (Jenny).  
  
The object of the game is to get the phone # 875-5309 in any suit.  
You deal seven cards to the players (Max is five)  
The rest are set up in the middle in a 4 X 4 grid (16 cards total) face down.  
If you want you can gamble in the game and if you want to play this way start the pot now at whatever amount you wish.  
Choose who goes first in any way you wish.  
  
Jacks and Aces are wild cards.  
Queens and Kings count as the 0 in the number.  
2, 4, and 10 have no point and are completely useless.  
  
You move in a counter-clockwise fashion around the field. Your turn comes around and you can take 1 card from the grid and replace it with 1 you don't want (Keep all cards face-down)  
If you bet, do so before you get your new card and everyone must do the same if you do now.  
  
When you get 8675309 you win. As simple as that.  
  
It's a good way to waste some time. 


	14. Chapter Twelve

The two Drifters continued down five levels in the caverns of ten feet forward, ten feet to the left, going down a floor, and going down further. And, the two of them had not spoken at all. Virginia mentioned something after waking up, and the man did not return verbal words of proper conversation so she continue in quiet. Jet meanwhile had multiple thoughts in his head that he did not want to think about because he knew someone would know somewhere.

Finally, something was said. "Did you sleep well?" It was unexpected of Jet to say something first.

"Oh, huh, yeah, I did." She said in surprise. "Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Well, why did you bother asking?"

He groaned. "Because I thought I should! Jeez, you're mad when I say nothing, and then you get mad when I say something. I thought it'd be nice to say something nice after the last conversations we've been having, but I guess I was wrong." He sighed.

"I...was just wondering...why you...forget it." She mumbled.

"I didn't mean to sound aggressive."

"Well, you sort of did."

"It does annoy me though."

"Well, I'm SORRY you don't know how to talk to me." She paused. "No, I am. I'm sorry. You really didn't grow up like I did...I should expect different things."

"Don't want your pity."

"I know. I'm not giving you pity Jet. It isn't that."

He snapped to her. "Then, what is it?" He wondered in a soft voice.

"I...It's more...concern Jet."

"Concern? You're concerned about me?" Jet questioned.

"Sometimes...people confuse it with pity. It isn't the same though." Virginia explained.

Jet continued wordlessly. "Thank you."

"What was that?" She questioned. What did he say?

"I said, 'I'm sorry'." He coughed.

"You're...sorry?" She wondered.

"For being rude." He glanced away. "You were concerned. I should thank you for such concern."

"You're welcome...Jet." She replied mildly surprised.

The two of them entered a room at the end expecting another ramp. Instead, they found themselves in a large room with a single light that was placed at the very top—in the very middle—of the left wall. That light being so bright they need to look away when first arriving. It was almost like that of the sun.

As the light faded Jet's eyesight returned to him. As he looked for Virginia instead he finds himself. That was right. He looked and found another Jet beside him and he jumped away. "Who are you?" He grit.

From the light of the room there was an answer. "Jet? Are you here?" It was Virginia.

"Virginia?" He shouted. "I can't see you! Just another me."

"The same here!" She replied from somewhere in the room.

"What should we do? Kill this fake?"

"I think they're planning that, too, so, it would be a wise choice." She uttered drawing her ARMs.

"Understood." He replied as he faced the other Jet who was taking out his own ARM. Jet dodged some shots from the other Jet. Jet closed the distance between him and his copy and hit the copy back.

Virginia let out a yelp. Her copy had attacked her with a fist that she barely dodged. She gained her footing and fired out at the other Virginia. That copy maneuvered around the shots and was able to hit her in the chest with a foot.

Jet meanwhile saw that he was winning the fight and sent a jab at the copy's face. Unfortunately for him the copy moved and fired at him. He moved away from the shots at the last minute.

Jet looked to the light that blinded him as he entered and watched the floor. Noticing the two shadows that danced across it. With wide eyes he closed the distance between his copy again.

Virginia stumbled back. Her copy was ready to kill her. Her copy was inches away, and Virginia closed her eyes in fear. The unexpected came. Her copy kissed her on the lips and in response Virginia sent a shot through her copy's gut.

Jet meanwhile fired at the light that was shining down on them. "Virginia...I,"

Virginia opened her eyes. As she fell on the hard floor Jet fell atop her with a wound to the chest. His blood falling on her as they lied on the floor. "Jet! I...I...Are you okay?" She realized that she had shot him.

"The light...made us...think...the other...was not who they were." Jet explained with a soft voice as he winched as he put his hand to his gut. "You...thought I was...You." He simply stated.

"I'm sorry! Jet! I'm so sorry!" She put her arms around Jet tightly and as hard as she could get them. "I...didn't mean to shoot you!"

"Virginia...I..." He moved his face forward much like he had a few minutes before and placed his lips upon her own. She joined in soon after. However, the kiss is stopped by Jet before it ever really begins. "Erk..." He simply gasped. She looked to his eyes.

"Jet?" She questions. He just ruined what could have been their first true real kiss! She was so ashamed of herself. He placed his hand at the top of her blouse near her neck. She was wondering what he was up to. That's when he did something to the utmost extent unlike Jet. He ripped her blouse off from collar to her waist. She kicked him to the side at that in shock. As she attempted to sit up her breasts nearly toppled out from where the were. She never sat up. Jet had grabbed her legs. One in each hand. Her left in his right hand and her right in his left. She looked on in fear. "No! Jet! Please!" She had an idea what he was about to do, and it was four letters long and started with an 'R'.

So, it was only natural he wound up on the floor with a bullet in his head from her ARM.

It was quiet for a moment. She said there with tears and regret of what she just did. She could have yelled again. Shoot him in the arm. No, she shot him out-right in the head. She probably killed him. But then, "I...Virginia." Jet attempted to say something more. "Why...What...Did...Did I do something?"

She moved to his side. "Jet?"

"How...did...your blouse...get ripped up?"

Her eyes went wide. "Jet? Were you...Were you being...controlled again?" She swallowed. That made her actions even worse.

"I...think so." He gasped. It was hard to get air in. "What did...I do?"

"You...didn't do anything. Jet, just, hold on." She grabbed his hand gently. "It doesn't matter. Jet, just, please live!" She cried.

"I'm...sorry...for whatever they made me do...but...Virginia...It was not...It wasn't...Em-"That was the last thing Jet Enduro ever said.


	15. Chapter Thirteen

Virginia entered the last room of the caves to what she thought would lead her to Shadow of the Sun. The last place for her to go now. It was the only thing left for her now. She had watched Jet die moments ago. Now she burned with an infinite amount of fury and need for revenge. She was out for Emma's blood. She did not care about anything now. She was just intent on avenging Jet and finding Shadow of the Sun. Every monster that came between her so far did not even leave a piece of his body behind to be identified.

Her dress was ruined, and so she took the pants and shirt from Jet to replace her own. He no longer needed them anyway.

So, as it was said, she came to the end of the caverns to find a podium with a black ball floating over it. Wearily walking to it she came to the conclusion that this was Shadow of the Sun. There was no where else to go now. So, she touched the ball of black to find herself in a place of unending darkness. She was on the shadow of the red sun. A place that came between Inner-Filgaia and Filgaia. The portal to get to one from the other, but it was closed.

In the dark there stood a woman in black dress with red tresses falling down her backside. This made Virginia angered. That's why there was no words passed before she drew her ARMs and fired out at Emma who took the shots and continued to live. It was safe to assume that ARMs had no effect on these demons.

The two danced this battle for awhile with neither becoming the victor. It would always come to Virginia knocking Emma away, and then Emma coming back and hitting the other girl back. Finally, Emma gained an upper hand and had Virginia lying on the floor and open to attack.

"Now...Die!" Was all Emma said as a sword came to her hand and was readied to be thrusted into Virginia's abdomen. Emma stopped staring at Jet's clothes on the girl. A doubt ran through Emma's head.

Virginia took this to advantage. "I won't let you live after letting Jet die!"

Emma's eyes snapped to attention as Virginia jumped to her feet. An unexpected thing happened though. Emma fell to the floor on her knees vomiting all over the space between the two women. Virginia was ready to kill the other woman. Emma looked to her. "No! Stop!" Virginia almost continued with the dealing of death, but stopped at Emma's words. "Jet's...dead?" She sobbed.

"You...took over his mind and tried to make him...and I killed him." She said silently.

"I...never took over Jet's mind!" Emma protested. "I would never harm Jet! Never! I...love...him." She said with tears in her eyes. "At least...I wanted to." Emma softly said as Virginia lowered her ARM. She knew Emma was for real. "I...don't even know...what this place is." She explained after regaining sense. "Where are we, and...why am I here?" Virginia eyes went wide.

"You're being controlled too?" Virginia said in shock just as Emma's stomach disappeared as a blast of energy went through her causing the demon woman to fall to the black nothing of a floor letting crimson escape about the area. Virginia looked ahead in the darkness of Shadow of the Sun to a man with a grin on his face. "Who are you?" She demanded.

Emma sat up slightly with a grunt. "Vermont! How...could you?" She grasped at her wound. "Will you kill your own great-great granddaughter?"

"I will kill Virginia if I like." Vermont replied with an elegant voice. A voice that was of nobility. The voice of the demon who would also be known as Virginia's own great-great grandfather.


	16. Chapter Fourteen

"My...My great-great grandfather?" Virginia stammered. The tall man with broad shoulders came closer into the light. "You joke."

"No, I am your great...I hate saying great so many times although it be true. I'm related to you, and that's it." Vermont clarified. "I have a feeling you want to know more, so, I will continue. Basically, I've been waiting here for you for a long time, Virginia. You are a means to an end for me. The end of my lifelong ambition." He simply said with a grin. "That journal that was written by your mother. I wrote that. Not her. I wrote it and waited for you to find it. I gave up one slight chance on you. I gave a gamble that you would find it and, you did. I gave up the one brief moment I had to go to Filgaia to give you that book so that you would come here and give me the chance to go back to Filgaia for longer than the minute I was granted the last time."

"I don't see how or why I would help you." Virginia said with acid. "You took over Emma's mind, didn't you?"

He smugly smirked. "I did. She was unwilling to fight for real, and so I took over her mind. It's a pity I cannot do the same to those who share the same blood as mine. And, Emma can not control anyone with demon blood, so she could not control you either."

"So you controlled Jet! You...I don't even know a word that would describe how I feel towards you for that. You disgust me greatly." Virginia's hands hovered over each ARM in her holsters.

"Your great-grandfather—my son—had the demon ability to not only teleport, but open paths to other realities. With that ability he escaped to Filgaia and was supposed to free us from this prison. I wanted control of Filgaia!" He formed a fist. "He betrayed me. He fell in love with Filgaia, and with a woman." He regrettably informed Virginia. "Now, he left you as the only one who can open the path for me. Though your demon blood is tainted and unusable it should still be able to call out to Shadow of the Sun and open a portal between this place and Filgaia."

"I'm not going to do that! You knew that already!"

"I have something that you would want."

"What is that?" Virginia wondered cautiously.

"This, 'Jet', can be brought back to you. You do this for me and I will bring him back to you." Vermont persuaded. "If you decline, I will banish his soul and memory so far away that you will forget all about him as well. But, you will always have a hollow, and broken heart and never understand why. You will miss him, and mourn him, and you will never know it. And he, will fade into nonexistence. It would be as if he never lived once."

Emma sat up barely as she clutched at the hole in her chest. "V-Vi-Virginia...You...Don't listen to him!...You...Need to do...What should honestly be done!"

Virginia nodded and all doubt left her. "I could help you, and save Jet, Vermont. That, that would put many others where Jet is now and will be though! I can't rightfully do that even for Jet." She declared. "Filgaia is more important than Jet." Emma sadly nodded.

Standing wobbly Emma sent a glare for Vermont. Virginia came to the demon's side and helped her stand. "We...will kill Vermont." Emma stated with all her strength. "It's the most...I can do."

Virginia nodded as Vermont's scowl grew. "So that's how you will have it then?" He questioned. "So be it! I will kill you both then!" With that he sent his arm outward—stretching seemingly—and Virginia barely dodged it along with Emma. As it retracted the two woman stood.

Drawing her ARMs Virginia fires out at her ancestor only to find that her ARMS are totally useless. Forming a scowl Virginia tossed her tinder crest blinding the man temporarily. Emma gained enough strength to send a dagger made of light at Vermont. The said weapon imbedding itself in Vermont's upper torso. Before the two could go any further Vermont let loose beams of energy from his eyes and each were hit back and their clothes burned.

Virginia bounced back up, but Emma did not. Emma went wide eyed and stared at Virginia. Before anything else could be said Emma had teleported. Leaving Virginia with her enemy.

Vermont let out a cackle. "Ha! So, you too have been betrayed. How sad? You will have to accept your death now before her."

"Can you kill me knowing that I'm your ticket out of here?" Virginia defiantly wondered.

"I don't care whether I let you live or not. You could put me in Filgaia, or you could decline as you have. If I can't get you to open the portal I have no use for you and I'll remain here. So, if it's the same outcome I might as well have some fun and kill you."

"I'm not going to let you though!" The battle picked right back up where it left off. Virginia charged forward between three separate attacks made by Vermont and punched the demon in the face. He laughed and returned the favor sending Virginia rolling across the floor with a broken nose. Spitting the blood aside Virginia stood and threw her shoe at Vermont's face. He caught it and looked at it.

"You seriously threw a show at me?" He questioned. She shrugged and ran forward only to be sent across the dark of Shadow of the Sun. Landing on what would think the door Virginia heard something crack a bit and knew she hurt something bad. Still, she could fight with two broken ribs, right? Staggering to her feet and wiping some blood from her face she stood tall. Jet was dead. Emma was no help, and even if she was here still she was too weak to fight. It was up to her now. She was going to win now matter what. She did not have anything to attack with though. She did not have the ability to win as she was now.

That was what brought three punches to her body and a knee to her chest. She attempted blocks and her own counter-attacks, and failed in each of them. She simply fell back to the dark floor on which she should still be standing on. Tears and blood marked the floor as she stood. Vermont moved in and kicked at her left leg. She heard another snap and fell to the floor. She gritted her teeth and stood upwards despite all her set-backs. She formed a stupid grin on her face that would tell Vermont that no matter what she was still going to get up until one of them were dead. She stumbled forward as Vermont moved in for the kill. His fingernails turned to retractable claws and were at the ready to rip at her neck. She had no defense.

An ARM rang out in the vast darkness that was Shadow of the Sun. Vermont stepped back grasping at his left arm. At least, he would be if he still had a left arm. It had been totally destroyed by that attack. Virginia fell to the floor relieved that her leg no longer hurt as it had. Her ARMs had not affected Emma or Vermont. That she realized soon enough. She did not have her ARMs in her hands as she thought. She thought she had fired at him. She sat there a moment in quiet introspection. Slowly, her head turned around.

"Are you going to sit there all day and leave it to me to clean up your messes?" Jet questioned. "Pheh. You always are such a pain in the ass." He said with a shrug. "Whatever. I still liked following you around for five years."

"J-Jet?" She mumbled. "How?"

He glares at her as he jumped forward and in front of her. Waving his Aigert-Lahm B/V2. Aiming it for Vermont's head. "Do you honestly think we have the time to talk about that crap now?" He simply questioned.

"I don't...now how you did that...but you will not get away with it, boy!" Vermont stood back up as if nothing happened. He waved his remaining hand for Jet who dropped his ARM. Jet letting out a hesitant gasp. "Now, kill her." Jet slowly turned to Virginia. As soon as she heard Vermont's command Jet's hand was at her throat. She looked into his vacant eyes. Her breath slowing and becoming harder. As Vermont let out a satisfied laugh another gunshot rang out hitting his leg and causing him to drop to his knee. "What?"

"Did you honestly think I would kill her?" Jet questioned from behind a smoking ARM. "I could never kill Virginia no matter what! Even if someone told me too!"

"H-How...could you not be affected by my power?"

"You said it yourself!" Virginia stood up beside Jet. "You can't control me, and since Jet and I are in sync with one another now you can't control him either. Our hearts are one and you can't control both of us!"

"The guardians have something they want us to tell you, Vermont." Jet continued. He looked to Virginia dropping his ARM. "Summon!" With that Virginia followed it with her own call for a summon and all twelve of their mediums brought forth the beings whom cared for Filgaia the most aside from those who live there. From Moor Gault to Zephyr. Every guardian concentrating their attack on the demon.

Virginia looked away and placed her face into Jet's chest to not see the end of Vermont. Jet watched it as still as possible. It was not a pretty sight. He simply draped his arm around Virginia as Shadow of the Sun fell apart into fragments of light instead of the dark from before.

**DOES ANYONE UNDERSTAND WHY MY STORY IS NO LONGER SHOWN ON THE MAIN CATEGORY PAGE? I JUST FIND THAT MESSED UP. I HOPE IT SHOWS BACK UP.**


	17. The End

The two Drifters made their way across the desert plain of Filgaia headed for the cave to Inner-Filgaia. After a good twenty minute period of resting and healing without any real passing words Virginia was ready to get into what she was really interested in.

"Jet...how...I mean...I thought you had died." She questioned looking to the ground after having that trouble finding the right words.

Jet looked to the sky instead. He was just now becoming used to their sun again. They were blind for nearly five minutes when they had come out of Shadow of the Sun here on Filgaia. "I didn't die...No, not even close."

"Well, what happened?"

"After...We were talking, and I was going to tell you that Emma was not the one who took control of me, but I found that I lost my voice and my air. Someone had disabled my movements, and my voice. I was taking in so little air that it only was just enough to keep me alive. I was scared...for once...I thought I was dying at first until I realized that it was caused by someone else."

She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry that I got you into that."

"I think I got myself into it." He relented with a sigh as he scratched the back of his head. She lifted her head to normal level now that she was not so despondent. "So...Should I continue?"

"Go on."

"Well, I was lying there...and then someone came. It was...Emma. She just teleported in and landed beside me dying."

Virginia gasped with a smile. "So...she didn't betray me...she went to get you...but," She looks to Jet worried. "What happened to Emma? She didn't come back."

"She...broke that guy's control on me while filling me in on everything. She said she could break Vermont's control...and...she did...she even healed my wounds that a certain brunette inflicted." He eyed her. She stuck out her tongue like a child. "She...gave all her life energy to break Vermont's control on me. With her last breath...I guess...she teleported me to you, and....I think you know the rest from there."

"Yes, I do." She solemnly nodded. Taking Jet's hand.

Jet glanced upward. "So, here we are." He noted as they stopped outside the cave entrance they both went through to get into Inner-Filgaia. With a few sticks of dynamite and Virginia's tinder crest the cave was closed off for good. Leaving the two Drifters to their own.

"So, what now, Jet?" Virginia wondered. "Will you go off on your own, or stay with me...Or...Stalk me again?"

"I don't think it was STALKING." She stared at him. "Okay, okay, it was just a bit, but not the weird sort of stalking."

"When is stalking never weird?" She balked.

It was quiet for the longest time. "I wouldn't mind doing a little of all three. I think though, that I will stick with you Virginia for the most part. We should go back to Boot Hill. You were expected there a long time ago and I'm sure your uncle and all are worried. You shouldn't keep them that way."

"You'll be coming, right?"

"I was thinking about it."

She grinned her goofy trademark grin. "Are you ready to go?"

"No, wait." It was quiet again for the longest time. She and him were inches apart and she was holding his hand tight. She watched him to see what would happen next. After a long period of silence he spoke, "So...how long will it be that I'm stuck wearing my underwear only?"

She looked down at herself remembering that she took his clothes. He was indeed only in boxers, his socks and boots, his holster on the belt—as well as the extra rounds of his—and that trademark glove of his. She chuckled.

"Hey! What does that mean?" He growled. Was she not going to at least apologize for taking his clothing without asking?

"You shouldn't worry about your clothing, Jet."

"Oh?" He wondered as her voice and face had suddenly changed. He could not identify it.

"For what I have planned you won't even need those boxers." At that she started off for the nearest town and inn as Jet was left as a frozen statue of pale skin with a slight tinge of pink around the facial area.


End file.
